Communication apprehension of elementary and secondary students and teachers

A series of studies are reported that indicate a substantial increase in the average communication apprehension level of children occurs between kindergarten and grade 5 and that a disproportionately greater number of teachers with high communication apprehension teach at the lower elementary school level as compared to the upper levels. Suggestions for needed research are outlined and discussed. The development of two new scales designed to measure the communication orientations of children in grades K‐12, the Personal Report of Communication Fear (PRCF) and the Shyness Scale (SS), is also reported.